brian schatz, the lieutenant governor of the stateofhawaii, andthat letter is a resignation letter. i ask unanimous consent that the senator-designee schatz resignation letter be printed in the record. the president pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. it will be printed in the record. the vice president: the chair liz before the senate a certificate of appointment to fill a vacancy presented by the death of the late senator daniel inouye of hawaii. the certificate, the chair is advised is in a form suggested by the senate. if there is no objection, the reading of the certificate will be waived and it will be printed in full in the record. if the senator-designee will submit himself to the desk the chair will administer the oath of office. the vice president : do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that i will bear true faith and that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and t

and women. greeting marines at a gays near their vacation homeinhawaiipayingtribute to them and their family. an annual vacation tradition for president obama. that is your 5@5:00. >>> speaking of the president. fox news confirming he will be cutting his vacation short to get back to work on the fiscal cliff. peter doocy has more. >> president obama will departed hawaii for washington, d.c. late tonight leaving his wife michelle and daughters sasha and malia behind. the latest guidance we have from white house is that the president will be back here in the nation's capital where it is presently 36 degrees sometime tomorrow morning. united states government is set to go off the fiscal cliff on new year's day. at this point we don't know if the president plans to return at the to hawaii if the tax hikes are avoided well in advance of the of the new year. he's there to talk to himself. john boehner will come back at any time. his office told us it would be sometime after christmas. so he could be back as soon as today. the upper chamber in commerce is coming back tomorrow to pi

. >> gregg: will be the president be working on these issues during his christmas holidayinhawaiioris it golf and r&r and spending time with the kids? >> mostly r&r but on friday the president acknowledged there might not be time for any grand bargain. he scaled back for expectations for the rest of the year. one democrat said a larger deal is not impossible. >> we what we ought to do is take speaker's last offer, president's last offer and split the difference. that would be a package of about $2.6 trillion. you couple that with the $1.1 trillion that has already been done, that would be close to the $4 trillion we needed to stabilize the debt and begin to bring it down. >> reporter: to do that the president is demanding wealthy pay higher taxes. >> gregg: steve, thanks. >> heather: gregg, president obama is taking a break from the stress of fiscal cliff negotiations spending the holiday in hawaii. there is also a somber moment on his schedule. president and first lady attending a memorial service for daniel i inouye. >> he is leaving the fiscal cliff worries back home. we are

. the chair recognizes the gentlewomanfromhawaii, ms.hirono, for five minutes. ms. hirono: i stand here today to give tribute to my friend, who is our senior senator, our country's senior senator, daniel inouye. with your passing, my friend, i tell you that no one can fill your shoes. in hawaii we say there are three economic joggers in our state, tourism, defense and senator inouye. and it's true. his work and his unselfishness in serving his state and country are unparalleled. he served our country during war at a time when people who looked like him were not considered american citizens. he did it and served our country honorably sand with respect. with incredible strength and character. he did it because he believed in our -- in what our country should and could be. make our country great. our country above service. our country about our children and our future. our country, honorable. his personal legacy and my home state of hawaii could and will never be matched. never. hawaii will never be able to thank senator inouye for his service and what he's done for us. it is too great to

quit his job and sold his things and planned to movetohawaiiandbought a ticket. now she wonder fist he planned to move. here say counsellor with his high school. >> he was counseling kid assigned to the yard system and helped us with work in the counseling office. i found him to be a polite young man. soft spoken and nice smile. just really surprised that somebody with his personality would do this. >> we are learning more about the victims. 54-year-old cindy ann yullie. she was everyone's friend and a hospice nurse. steve forsythe had two children and loved to coach kids sports. christina is in the hospital in serious condition with bullet fragments in the lung and liver. the 15-year-old will recover, but faces more surgery. >> john mcafee, the software pioneer is back in the u.s. >> i don't even know why i'm here. this morning i was in jail and today here i am. >> a bizarre murder mist rear had this mouth you will on the run and hiding in belize to you go at mally and now miami beach. what's next? we caught up with him. that's ahead. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing

's. it's amazing what soup can do. >>> the president heading back to d.c.fromhawaiitotry to keep america from going over the fiscal cliff. as the house and senate reconvene tomorrow. the clock is ticking. six days until the deadline. the way things work in washington, can they actually get something done before the end of the year? brianna keilar, what is the latest on this? >> hi, there, drew. president obama will be heading home from hawaii tonight, logical time arri arriving in d.c. thursday morning when the senate will be reconvenin reconvening, and the senate, all eyes on now, that we look for the last-ditch effort to avoid the fiscal cliff. even though the president is returning on thursday, we may not see the senate roll out its bill to deal with the fiscal cliff. perhaps for a couple of days. this is entirely possible we've learned from sources as senate majority leader harry reid works to get republican support in the senate, which he will need if he's going to pass a bill. and so we're still waiting to see exactly what it will look like that the white house wants for th

and acting tough when he was just away for weekinhawaii. everyonedeserves a nice christmas holiday but not when we have serious issues that need to be addressed. i don't think the president has led on this. the american people are also partly to blame here. there was an election and he left in place everything the same. the house is the same. senate is basically the same. you voted for basically more of the same. american people don't escape blame either. >> gregg: van hollen basically has the same argument, he has been out for 12 days and vanhollen, boehner would not touk talk to him. i'm not sure i buy that. if it does go to the fiscal cliff and we go over it, sequestration would cut only $109 billion next year. that is actually not a lot in a budget of almost four trillion, is it? >> it's not a lot of the total number, half of that goes to defense which are own admirals and generals have said and secretary of defense would be devastating. this comes on top of -- $50 billion in one year to the defense. and it doesn't touch at all medicare and the other entitlement programs. >> gr

to negotiate their freedom.>>>hawaiiandthe rest of the nation remember a gentle giant of the u.s. senate. >> with a heavy heart, it bid aloha, aloha to my good friend, colleague and brother, daniel inou inouye. >> you will be excused if you didn't know that before his death yesterday. hawaii's daniel inouye ranked third in the line of presidential succession. he was the senate pro tem, the senior member of the senate's majority party, having served 50 years during his half century in office. inouye made many, many friends, lots happen. but made remarkably little noise. initially barred from serving in world war ii because of his japanese roots, he petitioned to get himself into the army, wound up losing an arm, fought with such distinction that he earned the medal of honor. he was first elected to congress back in 1959, the year hawaii became a state. and earned such respect he was named to committee that investigated watergate, investigated the iran/contra, also rose to the top of the powerful senate appropriations committee, which helped him steer federal dollars to his beloved hawaii.

in leading especially in the fiscal cliff, he wouldn't beinhawaiinow,he'd be in washington making sure that we had a deal -- gregg: has boehner done his job? >> boehner has done a great job in trying to lead republicans to a solution. gregg: seriously? >> absolutely. gregg: he can't even get a vote on his own plan, come on. >> here's the problem, gregg, is we have a president who basically says it's his way or the highway, and republicans are saying, no, we will raise revenue, but we won't do it at the expense of spending. our problem is a president who loves to spend money, who's now put down another $6 trillion in debt, and basically wants to save a trillion dollars over ten years when he's spending a trillion dollars of money we don't have a year. gregg: you know what, dick? president obama campaigned on the idea of 800 billion in new revenue, and when he won re-election, he suddenly said i'm going to double it. i'm demanding now $1.6 trillion in new revenue. i mean, how do you negotiate with a guy who keeps changing his proposal? >> well, what's interesting is that speaker boehner

andhawaii. officialstell cnn that the working assumption is that the north koreans got outside help from others, including iran. so today's launch is raising some huge concerns. let's go to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. i assume they are pretty surprised and alarmed by the successful launch over at the pentagon? >> look, wolf, because of everything you just mentioned, indeed, the u.s. military, the intelligence committee have been watching north korea for days now 24/7 because they did expect to launch and they announced it. but they were having technical problems so a lot thought it wouldn't happen until next week. when it happened last week, there was a surprise. the north korean anchor's excitement was clear. >> announcing the launch of a long-range rocket that put a north korean satellite to orbit around the earth. they clearly achieved one goal raising everyone's anxiety level. >> this is a step towards the ability to build a long-range missile that could strike parts of the united states. >> but i don't think this really was a great advance forward. i think in terms of

that the president is going to possibly delay his holiday, his vacationinhawaii. he'sgoing to stay in washington to try and get it done. do we expect they'll all sit in their seats trying to hash something out before the new year? >> reporter: well, as i said, the two people who are going to have to do this now again, according to all sides, has to be the president and the speaker. the president is delaying his trip he says. we're going to hear from the speaker about what his plans are. we heard from the senate's top democrat, the senate majority leader he plans to go to the funeral or the memorial service for senator daniel inoyae and a funeral in hawaii and we're up to christmas eve and christmas. the senate won't come back until next week, you can hope when they get back they'll have something to vote on, but it's too close to call right now. we just don't know. >> dana, thank you. appreciate it. >>> like the debate over expiring tax cuts, weather unpredictab unpredictable. just ahead the official start of winter. wisconsin governor scott walker called for a state of emergency as a severe sto

in american history. how his legacy stretched far beyond his home stateofhawaii. that'snext jenna: well that was quick. we heard from john boehner, speaker john boehner earlier today saying he had a plan b for the fiscal cliff compromise. he would put forward legislation so that anyone earning less than a million dollars would not see their taxes go up at the end of the year. well the white house came out and officially said no to plan b. we were hering from jay carney. of course the press secretary for the president saying the speaker's plan b approach doesn't meet this test of a balanced approach because it can't pass the senate and therefore will not protect the middle class. goes on in the statement to say basically, game on. as ed henry told us come on plan-c, right? that's what we're looking for. plan a is not working out so well because negotiations are not making a lot of progress, baby steps. plan b speaker put forward today, rejected by the white house. so maybe plan-c, jon, plan-c. jon: as you wellpointed out. jenna: here going to talk a little bit more what this all means no

. criminal charges against him were dropped. >>> the stateofhawaiiisno longer 50th in voter turnout. it's tied for 49th with west virginia. this time around, they've got company at the bottom. both west virginia and hawaii tenned out 44.2% of its voters in 2012. >>> the duke of cambridge decided to cancel a scheduled appearance at a military event to be with his pregnant wife. katherine has been battling acute morning sickness. they are supposeded to attend the royal premiere of "the hobbit" tomorrow but the daily mail says katherine may not be well enough to go. >> if he skips the hobbit for her, that is true love. i'll be impressed. >> thank you. 17 minutes past the hour. time for early reads, local news making national headlines. we're starting with the charlotte news and observer in north carolina where a federal judge ruled the state cannot issue choose life license plates without offering ones with different view points. he called it viewpoint discrimination and violation of the first amendment. pro-choice advocates and the aclu praised that decision but the ruling suggests, they

job in the derks li and sold all of his belongings and bought a tickettohawaii. >>she wishes to express shock and grief the events in the shopping she has no explanation or understanding of her son's behavior. >> ros killed a 54 year old nurse and 45 year old father of two, steven forsyth. a 15 year old was seriously injured . robertson took his own life. late last night john fee -- macfee arrived in the united states. >> this morning i was in jail and today here i am. i am not worried at all. if i am in front of a court they will not send me back. they have no evidence . >> gretchen: macfee is wanted in the country of bealize for the murder of his neighbor. we'll hear from secretary of state hillary clinton on the benghazi, libya attack that left ambassador stevens and three others dead . she will testify december 20th to the house foreign acommittee. the administration has been under fire for the handling of the benghazi attack and their consulate. today government is making commercials tune it down, really? ♪ ♪ >> gretchen: a new fcc rule said tv commercials can't have

journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning , president obama isinhawaiithisweekend for the christmas holiday with his family. he will join a congressional delegation later today led by harry reid in services in holland -- in honolulu for late senator daniel inouye passed away last week that congress will return monday to continue fiscal negotiations. we will look at the options ahead for the president as the january deadline looms but we want to begin with your comments on another debate front and center in washington following the tragic shooting in newtown, conn. -- that is gun-control. "the washington post" said a bitter fight ahead. the numbers are on your screen. we look at some of the headlines on the sunday morning beginning with "the connecticut post." - you can see the flag remaining at half staff outside one of the churches in newtown, conn. following the burial of 20 children and six women killed about a week and a half ago. this is from the front page of today's "new york daily news." finally, from the front page is this report about what is ahead in terms of the gun cont

.60 thanks to spikes from hurricane isaac and a refinery out west highest priceinhawaiiand california, about 4 bucks and in missouri and south carolina, they are about to go under $3 a gallon. >> bill: whoa. >> how about that >> bill: thank you, dan. here we go. we have been through so many tragedies like this. i mean the names, we remember them because they had such an impact on us. remember columbine. we remember tucson, arizona. we were aurora colorado and just last week we were portland, oregon and now newton connecticut -- newtown connecticut which has to be the worst so far because kids beautiful little 1st graders, little angels, 201st graders, 20 kids. we have seen their photos. we have heard their names. it just tears you apartment particularly those of us who are parents. it tears you apartment, these 20 little kids, four of their teachers, the principal and the school psychologist all gunned down multiple gunshot wounds to the head and brutal brutal acts possible against these people who in no way, i mean just totally, totally innocent people

member, followed byalaska,hawaiiandwashington. the number you see on the screen right here, which is the advocacy money, that could be what's changing these traditional union states. according to the nation, we look at those numbers from 2008 to 2011, right to work money was $18 million. pro-union, just $2 million. >> thanks so much. always good to see you. that does it for me. let's go to thomas roberts. >>> good morning, everybody. coming up, we're also touching on the right to work debate. we will talk with a republican chair with the seiu who also leads a union in michigan. we will talk about big labor's plans to fight back in the wake of that devastating setback yesterday in michigan. >>> plus, walking a mile in speaker john boehner's shoes. former speaker denney hastert joining me about boehner's dance with the president on the edge of the fiscal cliff. >>> and it's okay to be takei. the iconic actor joins me about his latest voyage as an activist and very, very interesting lunch with donald trump. ncer ] we begn serving handcrafted coffees in seattle, and people seemed to l

, right? where else would it go? >> universityofhawaiihasbeen openly campaigning for it for years. >> bill: oh, really? i hadn't thought about that. kenya? no. >> don't think that will happen. >> bill: but he taught at the university of chicago. >> there is a lot of family connections there. >> bill: he did not attend the university of hawaii. his father did right? >> and his mother. there's ties. he lived there. you don't have to be -- most presidential libraries are affiliated with an academic institution. now, having said that, for years, the university of chicago has had a very quiet under the radar -- putting out feelers to get this. ask him about it. they get all muzzled. so this is breaking out in the open. i want to give credit. politico had a story on this saturday where they talked about how one of the people involved is susan who was mrs. obama's chief of staff. now an executive at the university of chicago. but what this -- there are so many ties to the university of chicago.

medal of honor recipient as an american hero. you had insights. >> his family had beeninhawaiisincethe late 1800s and pearl harbor happened and dan rushed down to the harbor to treat his fellow americans with the training he got in first-aid and then when we were sending japanese americans to internment camps he volunteered for the 42ed. when he was on the dock leaving for war, his father said to him, this country has been very good to your family. you may have to die for this country and it will be a great honor for your family. he ends up saving the national guard unit, losing his arm, getting medal of honor eventually, get back to america, in a hospital room recuperating with guess who? bob doyle and phil hart, his roommates, two of the most distinguished senators in american history. they became fast friends and decided they wanted to devote their life to public service and all went home and ran for the senate and got there, one republican and two democrats. his last word before he died, aloha. we have to pay homage to him. >> we'll be right back. ♪ i'd like to thank eating r

sales.>>>hawaiimightsound goo. sun, in partly cloudy to the north. highs upper 40s, low 50, cold and breezy. >> thank you, steve. >>> in burlingame, hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects to victims of the connecticut schoal scooting. >> olivia engel, 6. [bell tolling] >> the names were read aloud -- and a aloud and a -- were read aloud and a candlelit for them. >> people in our community are just heartbroken over what's happened in connecticut. we all identify with the parents and with the community. these little children have been killed so horribly. >> one person with a special bond to newtown is betty. she grew up there and her grief was clearly visible during last night's service. >>> more bay area candlelight vigil vigil are scheduled for tonight -- more bay area candlelight vigils are scheduled for tonight at 6:00 and ameral park in plan tonight -- in pleasant tonight. and also there will be one tomorrow. >>> more people are buying guns these days after that tragedy in connecticut. gun owners in oregon, virginia, texas say many are buying guns fearing for their

to participate. it's disappointing. we would have been better off if he stayedinhawaiigolfing.>> "new york times" writer david brooks said president obama governs like a visiter visiter a morally superior civilization. successful presidents use force of their personality to persuade. clinton was like that. ronald reagan did that too. is that what this president is missing? >> it is, his strategy has been to stay out of the fray this weekend because he wants the blame to be on congress, which has about a 10% approval, versus his 55% approval. the president a not good and arm twisting. he knows he won the election and has public opinion on his side. he believes sooner or later the republicans will cave. >> here's the beef. republicans say you want $600 billion in new spending, which would absolutely negate the 600 billion-dollar in new tax revenue, so this doesn't -- this is a deal that's got no beef. where's the peeve? it doesn't attack -- beef? it doesn't attack debt and deficit. >> they're raising taxes and increasing spending. this is how we get into this mess. i can't believe this is th

. dozens more were hurt when this bus slid off an icy stretch of. >>ihawaiiandplunges down an embankment. >> reporter: we just got the latest numbers. 9 dead, 26 injured. this happened near personle on, oregon they call deadman's pass. this is the only section of that road that has that steep of an embankment. investigators believe the bus rolled at least three times before crashing down into that rocky basin. the local fire chief called the rescue organized chaos. >> 20 years and this is the first time i have seen anything like this. it appeared most of the patients had been ejected from the bus as the bus went down the cliff. >> reporter: first the rescue teams had to scale down that embankment. then bring the round up to the highway for you treatment. the number of injured and dead quickly rows. passengers who survived said those in the back of the bus fared better than those in the front of the bus. victims were flown to portland, oregon and boise, idaho. the bus is owned by a canadian company. they were on their way back to have after going to vegas. rick: trace gallag

inhawaiiafterhe felt a tug on his leg. you know where this is going. 61-year-old tom kennedy looked down and saw a shark had ahold of him. >> he released me. and so i started swimming as fast as i could. i was still guessing 100 yards from my board. obviously i wanted to get out of water i could. >> so he made it back to his boat where his friends helped him to shore. his wound is serious but is he expected to be okay. stevie wonder canceling a performance because of tensions in the mideast. he was scheduled to play a benefit for the israeli defense forces but after the u.n. decision this week to upgrade palestine's status to a nonmember observer. they suggested he back out wonder serves as official messenger for peace for the u.n. he said he would make donation supporting israeli and palestinian children with disabilities. those are the headlines. oh boy, clayton. juliet's kind of segment and dave's segment because is he glue ten-free. only 24 more days until christmas. never too early to plan your holiday meals. this morning we have twice the ideas for breakfast. twice. joining us now

be interested to see. he was the pros -- supposed to leaveforhawaiiforhis christmas vacation today. i do not think it would happen. this morning around 10:30 a.m. for the national -- at the national cathedral for the funeral. i did not know what he does next. democrats have been saying all along they were prepared to go over the cliff if they were not presented with a deal they thought was acceptable. i think it is possibly even at this point looks likely to happen. and then they would have to move on what is next. they always believed from a strategic perspective that if they went over the cliff, all of the taxes would expire and any thing the house republicans would pass from then on out would be a tax cut as opposed to a tax increase. this has been a rhetorical proposition that was put out by even senator patty murray as early as last july. the funny thing what is when you heard top republican talkers and leadership discussing the vote that was supposed to be happening last night that is how they phrased it. not a tax hike but letting rates rise on an income where it was already set t

left for his vacationinhawaiionfriday evening, talked about a very pared down, stripped down plan. simply extend the bush tax cuts for people making $250,000 or less, extend unemployment benefits for 2 million people that they're going to run out for, and basically postpone all of the sequester, which would be 110 billion dollars in spending cuts in 2013. now, i'm just not sure i see how republicans are going to go along with that given the fact that you just had the plan b rejected which was going to set the marker not at 250,000, but a million and the speaker couldn't get the votes for that, so, why would republicans now go for the $250,000 that we've been rejecting all along. >> clayton: another animal house reference, it's like the young members of congress trying to get their pledge pin, you know, who are going along trying to vote for this. and they're not-- i mean, let's be honest, this is the reason they didn't get the votes, the 40 or 50 members who didn't want to go along with the speaker on this. you're right, chris. i mean, let's dive into that. how are they going to p

inhawaiitocost the taxpayers $4 million. he is just going to blame the republicans and let the taxes go up on everybody. host: grace says -- guest: medicare's costs have grown slower than the private insurance market. even though it is a big expense for the federal government, it would be even more expensive if we were growing at the same rate of private insurance. medicare has millions and millions of patients and to negotiate much lower rates. on the flip side of that, the issues we talked about earlier about doctors not wanting to participate. medicare has a huge population so they are able to streamline a lot of the education costs. host: another comment on our twitter page -- guest: malpractice is an issue that came up in the health care debate but did not move for that much. it is one solution that might make doctors more comfortable in their practice, that they are now worried about getting sued all the time. most of the estimates show it most of the estimates show it would be relatively small in the world of health care spending. it is something that comes up in the debate. host

, connecticut, new hampshire. ithinkhawaiiison that list too. one, two, three, four, five. and the district of columbia plus the state of this year just added, maryland and washington plus, remember the president of the united states himself, who used to be on the fence on this issue has now come out and said he full ly sports same-sex marriage. the obama administration has refused to defend the defense of marriage act. john boehner and eric cantor are still doing it, but the administration is not. the department of justice is not. they said they don't believe in the defense of marriage act any more and they wereare not going to defend it and they hope congress over turns it. george will said here is one of the reasons why politically it has changed. >> they can say it's now safe to look at this because there is something like an emerging consensus. quite literally, the opposition to day garianingmarriage is dying. it's old people. >> it's old people. they are dying off. >> that's an accurate way to put it. >> bill: you talk to young people t

for them. this is the type of rocket that has the range to hit areas in alaska or u.s. basesinhawaii. sothere is, you know, some concern over this success by north korea, don. >> so chris, how worried are pentagon officials again about the successful launch? you said there is some success with this but how worried are they about it? >> there are still some ways to go, don. they're worried down the road about north korea marrying its nuclear weapons with this missile technology. in other words, being able to miniaturize a nuclear weapon to put on a warhead, to also be able to aim that missile accurately and to have the type of heat shield that would allow it to come back into the atmosphere without burning up. there's no indication north korea, you know, has made that jump yet. that is a concern down the road, and there's also a concern about what help they may be getting. u.s. official is telling us that one working assumption is that iran helped north korea with this launch. we know in the past u.s. officials have detected north korean engineer going to iran, iranian scientists coming

that you're on of the they were upset that they went on christmas vacations. the president wenttohawaiiandmembers of congress went home. both sides said we're going to come back to washington because we've got to solve the situation. i think what so many people are frustrated about is this is an ongoing situation. it's like every year we come to this point where we're talk being this cliff and this is what i think has angered so many voters and why congress has such a low approval rating. >> rick: they also got to this point because of their last time they did this. it was the last debt creating fight that deleted this thing. now they gave themselves an amount of time to work on it you and thought maybe last week there was a little progress being made. turns out there is not. we're back to exactly where we started at and we're eight days out now. >> clayton: you're right about that 'cause senator baucus, even back around thanksgiving, the senator from month month said oh, this is not going to get done, around thanksgiving. he said we will wait, as congress does, this will come to the

through saturday morning because a bunch of them are goingtohawaiiforsenator inouye's funeral. >> right. >> so that shuts down any work to be done on the 22nd, the 23rd and 24th. so then they have to come back the 27th -- as little time there is, there's even less. that's my point. >> do you think that the republicans are in any way, shape or form playing differently than they have before? has anything changed? are they -- is there -- >> yeah, i think the one thing that's changed, i don't think the republican party is united. and if boehner messes around too long, i think you'll start hearing more and more senate republicans in the rank and file start to complain loudly. >> that's the other question. >> you're hearing them grumble right now, but the grumble is going well, they're all looking at it on the bright side. well, maybe boehner's trying to bring along the conservative. they're, like, giving him this last moment. >> that's the other thing. remember in 2011 when it looked really bleak right before the debt ceiling, it was mitch mcconnell who stepped in and tried to find

rd,hawaiiandamerican university law schools. he's a member of the american academy of appellate lawyers and was its president from 1999-2000. he's a graduate of yale university and the harvard law school, served as a commissioned officer in the u.s. navy and was an assistant u.s. attorney in new york. please welcome alan morrison. [applause] >> thank you, roger. i also have the distinction of two things. one, i read and commented on stuart and rick's book. i don't want to get any medal of honor for that. my name is in the acknowledgments, i found it today, so nobody's come after me yet. laugh and if you think it's insend yea -- incendiary now, you should have read the draft i read. [laughter] i'm one of the few lawyers who did not file a brief in the fisher case. [laughter] okay. so let's begin by remembering that fisher is a concrete lawsuit and not an academic debate about the values of affirmative action. the question in this case is did the university of texas violate the equal protection clause in connection with its undergraduate admission program, and did abigail fisher,

for the peopleofhawaiibutwow, the way he stood up for federal work force, the civil servants who do such a great job, the outstanding job he's done on the veterans committee. lives are better off, particularly for our veterans, and i want to say a wonderful, wonderful goodbye and good hug to him, because he demonstrates that you don't have to be loud to be powerful. i also would like to pay tribute to someone on the other side of the aisle, my very good friend and someone i admire tremendously, senator dick lugar from indiana. who doesn't admire senator lugar? a judge, a scholar. i might even add, a rhodes scholar. a definite advocate for indiana. a very -- an incredible thought leader on foreign policy. ierm si'm so proud of him and tk deand the way he reached across the aisle to work with our colleague, senator sam nunn, on their famous nunn-lugar cooperative threat reduction program. they truly worked together to begin to end the threat of weapons of mass destruction in the former soviet union and made the world a better and safer place. we want to wish senator lugar a fond farew

to the funeral of senator inouye and that has created that service that will take placeinhawaiihascreated a challenge for us when it relates to the schedule itself. we understand this is a difficult, difficult time. but we need to work together to put into place pro-growth economic policies. i think that there, as i said in my opening remarks, a bipartisan quest to do that. i congratulate the president for his call in reduction from the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%. real tax reform. something we have been trying to do for a while and i think can be done in a bipartisan way. real entitlement reform that does not hurt our fellow americans is something that can be done in a responsible way. so i will simply say that this is not a perfect process. but it's end of the session process going on right now to deal with a tough, tough situation. we don't want our fellow americans to be hurting, especially at this time of year as we look towards the christmas holidays. and i believe that we can see an agreement which will work to ensure that that does not take place. so, mr. speaker, i urge my

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